SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Gateway Distriparks (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Gateway Distriparks is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gateway Distriparks
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Gateway Distriparks can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gateway Distriparks, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gateway Distriparks operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Gateway Distriparks
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gateway Distriparks
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Trucking sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Gateway Distriparks
Strengths of Gateway Distriparks | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gateway Distriparks are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Gateway Distriparks comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Trucking industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Trucking industry
– Gateway Distriparks has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gateway Distriparks to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Trucking industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gateway Distriparks to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gateway Distriparks has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Digital Transformation in Trucking industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gateway Distriparks digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gateway Distriparks has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Innovation driven organization
– Gateway Distriparks is one of the most innovative firm in Trucking sector.
Diverse revenue streams
– Gateway Distriparks is present in almost all the verticals within the Trucking industry. This has provided Gateway Distriparks a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to lead change in Trucking
– Gateway Distriparks is one of the leading players in the Trucking industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Trucking industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Gateway Distriparks in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gateway Distriparks in Trucking industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gateway Distriparks in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Gateway Distriparks has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gateway Distriparks to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gateway Distriparks has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gateway Distriparks has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Analytics focus
– Gateway Distriparks is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Trucking industry. The technology infrastructure of India is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Gateway Distriparks is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Gateway Distriparks is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Gateway Distriparks emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Gateway Distriparks | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gateway Distriparks are -
Skills based hiring in Trucking industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gateway Distriparks has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gateway Distriparks is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Gateway Distriparks to provide better information regarding Trucking products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Gateway Distriparks is just above the Trucking industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Employees’ less understanding of Gateway Distriparks strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Gateway Distriparks don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Gateway Distriparks needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Trucking industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Gateway Distriparks can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gateway Distriparks is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gateway Distriparks has some of the most successful models in the Trucking industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Gateway Distriparks should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Trucking industry, Gateway Distriparks needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Gateway Distriparks, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Trucking industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on Gateway Distriparks ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Gateway Distriparks still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Trucking industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Gateway Distriparks has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Gateway Distriparks has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gateway Distriparks has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Trucking industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Gateway Distriparks Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Gateway Distriparks are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gateway Distriparks can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Trucking industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gateway Distriparks to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gateway Distriparks to increase its market reach. Gateway Distriparks will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gateway Distriparks in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Trucking industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Trucking industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Gateway Distriparks in the Trucking industry. Now Gateway Distriparks can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Gateway Distriparks has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Trucking industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Gateway Distriparks can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gateway Distriparks to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Gateway Distriparks to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gateway Distriparks can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gateway Distriparks is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gateway Distriparks can utilize new technology in the field of Trucking industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gateway Distriparks can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gateway Distriparks operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Trucking sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gateway Distriparks has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Trucking industry. This can help Gateway Distriparks to build a more holistic ecosystem for Gateway Distriparks products in the Trucking industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gateway Distriparks can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Gateway Distriparks External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Gateway Distriparks are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gateway Distriparks can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Trucking industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Gateway Distriparks in the Trucking sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Trucking industry are lowering. It can presents Gateway Distriparks with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Trucking sector.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Gateway Distriparks needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Trucking industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Gateway Distriparks needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Gateway Distriparks can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Trucking industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gateway Distriparks high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Gateway Distriparks business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Gateway Distriparks needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Trucking industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gateway Distriparks has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Trucking industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gateway Distriparks needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Trucking sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Gateway Distriparks will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gateway Distriparks demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Trucking industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Gateway Distriparks may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Trucking sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gateway Distriparks Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Gateway Distriparks needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Gateway Distriparks to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Gateway Distriparks needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.